EC Red Bull Salzburg awaits Olimpija Ljubljana in the Salzburg ice arena on Friday in the win2day ICE Hockey League (7:15 p.m., Student Hockey Night, live stream).
With their current 11-game winning streak, the Red Bulls are heading into the encounter with great confidence, but have not yet been able to win against the Slovenians in the two previous comparisons. Salzburg’s captain Thomas Raffl will be ceremoniously honored during this game; the 39-year-old striker celebrated his 1,000th in the last game in Bolzano. League game played
Initial situation
Things couldn’t be going better for the Red Bulls at the moment. After some ups and downs in the autumn of last year and briefly in eighth place in the table at the beginning of December, the reigning champions got back on the road to success over the course of December, remaining in third place in the table and having won the last 11 games (!) in a row. The Salzburg team last achieved this in the playoff series in spring 2022, when they won 12 games in a row – also a club record! – won. Now the Red Bulls also want to beat Olimpija Ljubljana. Also to extend the series again, but primarily to defeat the Slovenians for the first time this season. In the two previous meetings this season they had the better end in each case. The development of the Slovenians was almost the opposite. With new head coach Ben Cooper, they started the season sensationally with six wins and immediately catapulted themselves to the top of the table, where they stayed for a long time. From November onwards, defeats increased and at the moment the Slovenians are ‘only’ in fifth place. They have only won three times in their last eight games, including last Monday at home against FTC Telekom Budapest 5-1.
Ljubljana with two players in the league top 5
The Slovenians have a lot of quality in their ranks. Striker Nicolai Meyer leads the ICE Hockey League’s top scorer list with 17 goals and 27 assists, while defender TJ Brennan is the league’s fifth best scorer with 15 goals and 26 assists. With 13 goals and 19 assists, Salzburg’s top scorer Michael Raffl is ranked 17th in the league. This is also reflected in the team performance. Ljubljana is still the strongest offensive team with 134 goals scored. The Red Bulls have already moved up to fifth place with 115 goals. On defense it is exactly the opposite. Salzburg remains the bulwark of the league (71 goals conceded), Ljubljana has the sixth best defense (100 goals conceded).
Statement Devante Stephens
“It’s an important game. We are close together in the table and the last few games have put us in the right direction. We have to be extremely ready and expect another close game between two good teams. But we want to show that we are a different team now than we were in the first two games against them.”
win2day ICE Hockey League
EC Red Bull Salzburg – Olimpija Ljubljana
Fri, January 9, 2026 | Eisarena Salzburg, 7:15 p.m. Livestream | Student Hockey Night
www.redbulls.com, Image: EC Red Bull Salzburg
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